It's easy to make homemade OREO Cookies with sweet vanilla creme sandwiched between two dark chocolate cookies. The beauty of this chocolate sandwich cookie recipe is that you can make traditional round cookies or you can make fun shapes for holidays and special occasions.
After sharing my chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies recipe here on the blog, a reader asked if she could use that recipe to make homemade OREOs. I said, "yes, but let me create the perfect vanilla creme filling and get back to you."
Today, I'm happy to share my recipe with her and all of you too.
My chocolate cookies are made using Special Dark Cocoa Powder and they have a crispy texture and a really rich chocolate flavor so I needed to find a cream filling that would compliment the deep dark chocolate flavor.
The challenge with this recipe was finding the right ratio of ingredients to make a firm, yet creamy filling. I didn't want my frosting to ooze out of the cookies.
I found that by combining just the right amounts of butter, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla, you can achieve a nice ooze-free filling for your cookies.
The filling tastes very similar to the filling in OREOs.
And, being you are making the sandwich cookies from scratch, you can cut the cookies using any shaped cookie cutter you like. If you want to make cookies for a birthday, baby shower, holiday, and more, you can simply cut out the cookies using your favorite cookie cutters.
You can even add a decorative touch by using cookie stamps to make Mickey Mouse Sandwich Cookies, Graduation Cap Sandwich Cookies, or Teddy Bear Sandwich Cookies.
There are hundreds of shapes you can choose from. See more ideas in my Chocolate Cut-Out Cookie Recipe post. No matter which shapes you choose, the cookies will be a bit hit with your family and friends.
So, let's get baking.
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Ingredients
chocolate cookie ingredients
- butter - Use unsalted butter that has been slightly softened. When you press your finger into the butter, it should give slightly. I find that cutting the butter into slices and letting them sit in the mixing bowl for 15 minutes works great.
- granulated sugar
- egg
- vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- salt - Table salt works best.
- baking powder
- Special Dark or black cocoa powder - I use Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa so that my cookies are really dark and have a deep dark chocolate flavor similar to OREOs. Black cocoa works great too. You can use Dutch Processed cocoa if you prefer a lighter brown color. Check out my Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie post to see the dark and light-colored cookies side by side.
vanilla cream filling ingredients
- butter - You can use unsalted butter or salted butter to make this filling. Just be sure to allow it to soften so that it's similar in texture to the shortening.
- shortening - Use shortening to give the filling a whiter appearance and a flavor that is more similar to an OREO Cookie filling.
- vanilla extract - Pure vanilla extract will give you the best flavor.
- confectioners powdered sugar - I recommend sifting the powdered sugar to remove any lumps before mixing the filling.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Equipment
- mixing bowls
- hand-held mixer or stand mixer - This dough can be made using a hand-held mixer or even a silicone spatula or wooden spoon.
- sifter or fine mesh sieve - Sifting the cocoa powder and powdered sugar removes lumps making smoother cookie dough and frosting.
- optional, silicone mats - I prefer rolling cookie dough out on silicone mats because I don't need to dust the counter with flour or in this case cocoa powder. It's neater and my cookies look nicer.
- rolling pin - If I use a silicone mat, I also use a silicone rolling pin because the dough won't stick.
- 2-inch round cookie cutter or cookie cutter & stamps shapes
- aluminum rimmed baking sheets - I recommend using aluminum baking pans because your cookies will bake evenly.
- parchment paper - I always recommend baking cookies on parchment paper. The cookies won't stick and cleanup is a breeze.
Instructions
make the chocolate cookie dough
- Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy (2 minutes on medium speed if using a stand mixer and 3 minutes on medium speed if using a hand mixer).
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.
- Sift the cocoa powder over the flour mixture, then blend together using a whisk or fork.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl over the butter mixture.
- Beat on low speed just until the dough comes together.
Tips
- The dough can be rolled out right away or you can flatten the dough into a disc and place it in a large zip-top bag and chill it in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes if your kitchen is warm.
- You can also chill it for up to 3 days to roll and cut it later.
- Or you can freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
cut out the cookies
Roll the cookie dough onto a silicone mat using a silicone rolling pin without needing to use cocoa powder or flour. This is my preferred method.
Or dust a cutting board or countertop with cocoa powder (best) or flour (will leave a light white dusting on your dark cookies) and roll out the dough.
- Roll half of the chocolate cookie dough out to about 3/16-inch thickness.
- Cut the cookie dough using a 2-inch round cookie cutter.
- Remove all the excess cookie dough.
Tips
- If you roll the dough out onto a silicone baking mat, you can remove the excess dough, leave the cookies in place, set the mat on a cookie sheet or cutting board, and place the entire thing in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Then, remove the mat from the freezer and simply peel the cookies off the mat and place them about an inch apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. They will hold their shape perfectly!
If you want to make chocolate sandwich cookies in shapes for a holiday or special occasion, simply use fun cookie cutters or cookie stamps.
If using cookie stamps, you only need to stamp half of your cookies. One cookie will be on top of the sandwich cookies and the other will be covered with frosting.
If you click the links below, you can purchase the cookie stamps/cutters that I used to make my shaped sandwich cookies from Amazon. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
bake the cookies
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes depending on the size and shape. The smaller (1 ½- 2-inch) shapes will take 8-10 minutes and the larger (3-inch) shapes will take 10-12 minutes.
I always try to bake similarly-sized cookies on a tray. You'll notice in the picture above that all the cookies are similar in size. The larger cookies were baked on another tray.
The tops of the cookies will look really wet as they begin baking. Once the edges begin to look dry and the edges feel firm to the touch, you can remove them from the oven if you prefer softer cookies.
If you allow the cookies to cool on the baking trays, they will continue to bake for a while after they come out of the oven.
If you prefer crispy cookies, allow them to bake until the tops look fairly dry but not completely dry.
make the vanilla creme filling
- Combine the butter, shortening, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
- Sift the powdered sugar over the other ingredients in the bowl.
- Beat on low speed using an electric mixer until blended.
- Then, increase the speed to medium and continue to beat until the ingredients are well combined.
- If needed, use your hand to finish mixing the ingredients until it comes together (smashing the mixture into a ball).
- The filling should be pretty firm.
- Pipe or spread the frosting onto half of your cookies then add another cookie on top.
- I have very strong hands so I was able to pipe the frosting onto the cookies using a piping bag.
- If that is too challenging, you can simply spread the filling onto the cookies using a metal spatula or knife.
Substitutions
Almond, Raspberry, Coconut, or Peppermint Extract - swap any of these flavorings for the vanilla in the cream filling recipe. You could even add ½ teaspoon to the cookie dough too.
Variations
Cinnamon - add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the vanilla cream filling to add a warm spicy flavor.
Espresso powder - add 2 teaspoons of espresso powder to the cookie dough to add undertones of coffee flavor.
Storage
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to a week.
You can also freeze the cookies in an airtight container or large zip-top bag for up to 3 months.
Related
Looking for more sandwich cookie recipes? Try these!
Recipe
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Creamy vanilla filling sandwiched between two crispy dark chocolate cookies taste like OREO Cookies. These delicious chocolate sandwich cookies can be cut into rounds or into fun shapes for holidays or special occasions.
Ingredients
Vanilla Creme Filling
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 4 tablespoons shortening
- 226 grams (2 cups) powdered sugar*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Chocolate Cookies
- 142 grams (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened slightly
- 150 grams (¾ cups) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon (2.1 grams) vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 224 grams (1 ¾ cup) flour*
- ½ teaspoon (3 grams) salt
- ¼ teaspoon (1 gram) baking powder
- 35 grams (⅓ cup) cocoa powder
Instructions
- Combine the butter, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla together in a mixing bowl.
- Beat on low speed using an electric mixer just until the ingredients are combined.
- Then, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until combined.
- Use your hands to finish mixing the frosting until it comes together in a ball.
- The frosting should be creamy but fairly firm.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees C).
- Beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until creamy about 3 minutes if using a hand-held mixer and about 2 minutes if using a stand mixer.
- Add vanilla and egg and beat to combine.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Sift the cocoa powder, and mix it with the dry ingredients.
- Then pour it over the butter mixture.
- Beat on low speed just until the cookie dough comes together.
- Roll the cookie dough into a ball and flatten it into a disc.
- If the dough feels too soft you can chill it for 30-60 minutes. Otherwise, it's ready to roll out.
- Dust a cutting board lightly with cocoa powder or use a silicone mat to roll out the dough without needing to dust it with cocoa powder.
- Roll the dough out to about 3/16-inch thickness.
- Cut 2-inch circles using a round cookie cutter. You should get about 60 circles out of one batch of dough. Or, cut using other 2 to 3-inch cookie cutters.
- If using cookie stamps, press the stamp into half of the cut-out cookies. If needed, you can dust the stamp lightly with cocoa powder so that the stamp doesn't stick.
- If using silicone mats, freeze the cut-out cookie dough for 10 minutes then peel the cookies off the mat and place them on parchment paper-lined rimmed baking sheets.
- If you rolled the cookie dough out on your counter, lift them up using a thin metal spatula and place them on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes until the edges look set and the tops are no longer really shiny and wet-looking.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely.
- Pipe or spread a ⅛-thick layer of vanilla cream filling over half of the cookies then top with another cookie.
Make the vanilla cream filling.
Make the chocolate cookies.
Notes
- *It is best to weigh your powdered sugar and flour, but if you use cups, spoon the powdered sugar or flour into the cup then level it off (scrape over the top surface to remove the excess flour.)
- If you use a silicone mat, here's a great tip for keeping your cookies perfectly shaped. Once you peel the excess cookie dough off from around the round cookies, you can pop the cookies in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Then simply peel the cookies off your silicone mat and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or a clean silicone mat to bake. The cookie dough will keep its shape beautifully.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
30Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 146Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 85mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 0gSugar: 12gProtein: 1g
HowToMakeEasyCookies.com offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you use to create this recipe.
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